Since its earliest imagination, the idea of India has always been based on plurality. What has been created through millennia of advent and assimilation is a grand and many-hued heritage, shared by all who at various points of time became part of it and contributed to it in their own unique way.

Out of these largely oral, intangible and timeless interactions and traditions has emerged the rich and fluid Sufi-Bhakti culture of the Indian Subcontinent. The shrine has always been a shared space, a third space and a space for the meeting of hearts, minds and myriad imaginations.

It is this space of exchange and sharing which is now under attack from various fascist, fanatic and politically polarizing forces. The main purpose of these attacks is to prevent the perpetuation of this people to people, faith to faith interaction and the wonderful culture of dialogue, music, food and syncretic spiritual expression that it has given rise to, instead imposing a monolithic and authoritarian culture based of compliance, fear and falsehoods.

We as artistes, intellectuals, spiritual practitioners and activists condemn these nefarious attempts to communalize our social fabric and wish to present our views on this subject, one of vital importance in our troubled times.